Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Outrage Fatigue

I'm all out of outrage.

Outrage -- like oil, fresh water, and fresh, human blood --
is a precious, but limited resource.
There's only so much of it you can use before it stops flowing. When you run out of oil, cars stop driving
and the economy grinds to a halt. When
you run out of water, crops wither and die and people riot. When you run out of blood, you have to give
up your dreams of speaking to Nyarlathotep.

And I so wanted his autograph.

When you're out of outrage, though, you'll accept all kinds
of horrors. Americans have already
accepted:

weekly mass shootings

the merging of church and state

the end of civility and public
discourse

a poor job market

and the fact The Simpsons is still
on the air.

Now we also have to accept daily (daily!) outrages from
Trump:

publicly insulting anyone who disagrees with him

embarrassing the country before the world

destroying economic stability

obstructing justice

lying

and making bizarre statements.

Only a few months into his presidency, I've used up all the
outrage I've delegated to this lifetime.
In my next life, when I've been reincarnated as a retired circus
elephant's unicycle (I've been really
bad), I might finally be able to be a tiny bit upset about something.

A taste of my future.

I'm trying to replenish my strategic outrage reserves, but
it's hard in this media-saturated, sensationalism-focused world we live
in. If I want to tune out Trump, I have
to avoid:

news

comedy shows

Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Grindr, GeoCities social
media

conversations with friends

conversations with family

conversations with strangers

conversations with imaginary creatures

bumper stickers

going outside

and staying inside.

The only real way
to avoid Trump is not to avoid him, but to focus on something else. I've compiled a list of fulfilling things you
can do to rest your outrage spouts for a little while. My suggestions:

Go outside and breathe in the clean air.

Look into your finances.
How much do you invest abroad?
How quickly can you convert your assets into gold or something else with
an intrinsic value?

Meditate.

Look into improving your home. Does it have a fence? A storm cellar? Steel-reinforced doors? How much freeze-dried food and sterile water can
it hold? How much would it cost to build
a bomb shelter?

Go for a run.

Paint a picture of your neighborhood. Now paint a picture of what it will look like
in eight years. Will there be any minorities
or just white people with guns?

Take a class at your local park service or community
college.

Plan a vacation to a foreign country. Study their culture, government, language,
and immigration policies. Figure out how
long they'd let you stay.

Bake a cake.

Teach your children how to play an instrument. Teach your children a foreign language. Teach your children how to put on a flak
jacket and gas mask.